Various types of revolving cylinder ironing and drying machines have been devised for over a hundred years. All have attempted to both iron and dry laundry work pieces at high speed with minimal breakdown. Unequal shine imparted to the two sides of the laundry work piece is another historic problem. U.S. Pat. No. 2,538,094 issued in 1951 to Goodman improved a heated cylinder with a flexible ironing bed design. The basic design used a continuous blanket as the ironing bed. Goodman added an ironing roller to further iron the side of the laundry work piece in contact with the flexible ironing bed.
Several inventions utilize multiple revolving cylinders pushing against a fixed padded ironing bed. These types of systems require careful operator attention to avoid jamming. Additional problems stem from mechanical breakdown of the numerous moving parts. Thus constant efforts have been forthcoming to produce a simple easy to operate ironer that imparts an equal shine to both sides of the laundry work piece.
Modern research has created new heat resistant materials capable of serving as flexible ironing beds when drawn taut against a heated revolving cylinder. This approach allows a single pass of the laundry work piece between the heated revolving cylinder and the fixed taut flexible ironing bed to produce an excellent two sided shine. A high temperature polished revolving cylinder coupled with a plurality of holes in the flexible ironing bed properly dries the laundry work piece in one pass.